This application claims the priority of German Application No. 199 16 775.3 filed Apr. 15, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to a submunition projectile having a deployable stabilizing band mounted on a rearward portion of the projectile.
A submunition projectile (bomblet) of the above-outlined type is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,419. The projectile described therein includes a fuze having an axially shiftable firing pin carrier and a slide which has a detonator charge and which is shiftable transversely to the projectile axis from a safety position into a firing position. A first firing pin is mounted on the firing pin carrier on its side oriented towards the slide. In the safety state of the projectile the first firing pin projects into a recess and is coupled with a projectile stabilizing band on its side oriented away from the slide. Further, as a backup detonator, the slide carries a pyrotechnic delay charge with a primer for the self-destruction of the bomblet. The primer may be ignited by a second firing pin affixed laterally in the fuze housing.
To ensure that the slide, together with the detonator charge is shifted into the firing position in the known bomblets, the bomblet, after being ejected from the carrier projectile, must rotate about its longitudinal axis so that the centrifugal forces affecting the stabilizing band and the slide result in an unscrewing of the first firing pin from the recess of the slide and cause a displacement of the slide from the safety position into the firing position in which the first firing pin is in alignment with the detonator charge.
It is, among others, a disadvantage of submunition projectiles of the above-outlined type that they cannot be fired from weapon systems in which the submunition projectiles, after their ejection over the target area, do not rotate with a sufficient rpm or do not rotate at all. This occurs, for example, when the bomblets are delivered into the target area by wing-stabilized carrier projectiles, such as rockets.
While it is feasible in non-rotating submunition projectiles to cause a shift of the detonator carrier by means of an armed spring, such a solution, however, is, as a rule, not admissible for safety reasons because in case of a failure of the safety, the first firing pin would automatically shift the detonator carrier into its firing position and thus the self-destructing (backup) charge would be ignited.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved projectile of the above-outlined type wherein the slide which carries the detonator charge is shifted from its safety position into its firing position without it being necessary that the projectile rotate after it is ejected over the target area.
This object and others to become apparent as the specification progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, the projectile includes a fuze assembly, a stabilizing band mounted on a rear projectile portion and having a folded state and a deployed state. The fuze assembly includes a firing pin carrier supported for motion parallel to the longitudinal axis of the projectile; a firing pin secured to the firing pin carrier; a slide supported for motion transversely to the projectile axis and having a safety position and a firing position; and a detonator mounted on the slide. The detonator is out of alignment with the firing pin in the safety position of the slide and is in alignment with the firing pin in the firing position of the slide. A force-transmitting component, such as a pull cord is attached to the stabilizing band and the slide for moving the slide from the safety position into the firing position by a force which is produced when the stabilizing band moves from its folded state into its deployed state.
It is an essential principle of the invention to connect the stabilizing band with a component, such as a pull cord which, as the stabilizing band is deployed by the air current, exerts a suitably directed force on the slide to shift it from its safety position into its firing position.
According to a further feature of the invention, the firing pin carrier is attached to the stabilizing band which, upon deployment, pulls the firing pin carrier axially away from the slide to thus pull out the firing pin from a hole which is provided in the slide and into which the firing pin projects when the slide is in the safety position. To ensure that the firing pin can be pulled out of the hole to thus release the slide only when a predetermined axial pulling force is reached, the firing pin carrier is expediently secured in the fuze housing, for example, by a ball safety. Such a ball safety is disposed in the firing pin carrier and includes two balls spaced by a radially disposed compression spring. The balls extend partly into the outer wall region of the firing pin carrier and partly into groove-like recesses of the adjoining edge regions of the igniter housing.
To ensure that an unintended shifting of the detonator carrier cannot take place when it is no longer blocked by the firing pin, in a preferred embodiment of the invention the slide has a securing pin which, in the firing position of the slide, projects through a hole provided in the side wall of the fuze housing. In the safety position of the slide, however, the opening is obturated at its exterior by a cover so that an unintended shifting of the slide into the firing position cannot take place. In carrier projectiles having a series of stacked bomblets arranged behind one another, as a cover for the hole in the fuze housing of a first bomblet preferably the frontal region of an adjoining, trailing second bomblet is used which is positioned in a form-fitting manner about the rearward region of the first bomblet.